May
27th,
2018
Sunny
intervals
Off
at 6:30 a.m. With the mission to get up to the summit of the lump
between me and the next town. That is over eighteen miles away and
the road goes up with a fair gradient for the whole way. It starts
with the usual twisting loops as it climbs through agricultural
areas. It is a beautiful day with just some cloud forming over the
mountain tops. The whole push is beautifully scenic and it is a
pleasure to be on such a journey. There are even some birds to see
along the way. Golden-billed Saltators fly like small partridge,
Spot-winged Pigeons seem to favour sitting in the Eucalyptus trees.
American Kestrels fly low and Black-chested Buzzard Eagles soar
high, circling far overhead. Everything is perfect.
A
motortaxi stops by me and the family inside, father, mother and very
young child give me a bag containing a large piece of bread with
hundreds & thousands on it and four tangerines. Kindness of
strangers.
I
stop for breakfast at a place where a crash barrier stops and a
grassy ledge gives me incredible views towards distant high,
snow-capped mountains. A young boy, around twelve years old leads a
small herd of eight cows down the main road. No school for him. There
is work to do. A man is cutting a tall grass-like plant and laying
them in heaps nearby and a field down in the valley has beautifully
arranged stoops stacked as green cones. All is peaceful and my
surprise bread and tangerine breakfast goes down fine.
Carrying
on and after a few miles that take me a thousand feet higher, the
landscape changes to Puna grasslands with very little cropping. A few
Rufous-naped and the larger, white-tailed White-fronted Ground
Tyrants are searching for food on a large ploughed area. Another
ploughed area a little later has three women working on turning the
soil using short-poled hoes. Hard work in this sunshine. I am amazed
at how many women I see out in the fields. Two women later have three
dogs and around a hundred sheep to follow for the day.
Further
still all ploughed areas stop and there is just course, dry and
yellowing grass with some moisture areas in one small valley. Here
there are two Andean Geese. A small pool has a Puna Ibis and an
Andean Lapwing on it.
The
regular kilometre signs tell me that I approaching the wished for
summit and a cyclist coming downhill towards me stops for a chat. His
helmet is incredible. It looks like a black Kryten helmet from Red
Dwarf, with the eyes taken from the Green Goblin in Spiderman! On top
of it is a camera. The owner of such a fine cycling helmet announces
that his name is Luis as he passes me a business card and takes
selfies of us both and then one of just me with the bike. A
professional photographer, Luis' card states that he is available for
all types of events.
The
summit. I sit down for some lunch and to admire the view. I can see
for miles and miles; snow-capped mountains to the left, Puna
grassland hills and mountains all the way to the right as far as I
can see. I can also see the road I am going to go down and am glad
that I put all new brake blocks on yesterday.
Over
twenty five miles of speedy downhill cycling passes quickly as I go
around bends, enjoy the straight moments and watch as I reverse the
habitat changes I saw on the way up. I even video the ride for a
minute or so as the bike goes along a section where one faces the
distant mountains.
Through
villages with the usual holas and buenas tardes, I stop once or
twice to take photographs. I also stop for a minibus that has a flat
tyre and get all the food in my rucksack out for the stranded
passengers.
At
the foot of the hill, after views of incredible beauty, I stop and
watch a football match with a few locals. The home team are, sorry to
say, totally outclassed and I see four goals go in for the away team
in the half an hour I see. The local crowd are desperate for anything
good and the noise level increases when their team looks like
scoring. Sadly they never do. I know how they feel!
A
few miles of pedalling and I arrive at Andahuaylas. Finding a hotel,
I get into my neat and tidy room and celebrate having achieved the
mission. Forty seven miles! Brilliant.
Green
Year list : 202 birds average new birds to list per day : 3.54
birds
Distance
walked, pushed and cycled : 47.00 miles
elevation
: up 5,416 feet, down 6,434 feet
altitude
: 9495 feet
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